Folding chair



WWWME, 1955 E. M. GARNER EHMwAEfi FOLDING CHAIR Filed Oct. 19, 1.955

FWELL M flfiA/ER' INVENTOR ATTORNEY Uni States Patent ()1 "ice 2,724,430 FOLDING CHAIR Ewell M. Garner, Dallas, Tex.

, Application October 19, 1953, Serial No. 386,724

Claims. (Cl. 155-143) This invention relates to chairs or stools and more particularly to collapsible or folding chairs.

The principal object of the invention is to provide a collapsible chair especially useful to fishermen since its design and construction is such that it may be conveniently adapted to the seat of a fishing boat and clamped thereto to lend comfort to one fishing from the boat and, by virtue of the elements by which the chair may be quickly collapsed, it can still be used as a comfortable seat but at a lower height. Moreover, provision is made to enable the seat to revolve so that a fisherman may follow the movements of his catch in the water Without turning in the chair, supported by a back rest hinged to the revolvable part of the chair and which is foldable onto the said revolvable part when not in use.

Another object of the invention is to provide a foldable chair for any purpose having a substantially square base, a seat portion, a revolvable member on the seat portion, a hinged back rest, a series of supporting legs, each pivoted to and foldable into parallelism within a side of the base and connected by swivel means to the seat portion in such manner that the seat portion rotates 90 during its movement into and out of folded position in relation to the base, in which position the seat portion is in juxtaposed parallelism with the base.

Other objects will appear as the description proceeds when considered with the annexed drawing, wherein:

Figure 1 is a front perspective view of a folding chair constructed according to the invention.

Figure 2 is a perspective view showing the chair in partly folded position.

Figure 3 is a perspective view of the chair in fully collapsed position.

Figure 4 is a fragmentary sectional view showing the swivel connection between the seat portion and one of the legs of the chair, and

Figure 5 is a sectional view taken on line 5-5 of Figure 4.

Continuing with a more detailed description of the drawing, reference numeral denotes a base consisting of four side members 11, each having a vertical flange 12 and a horizontal flange 13. To the vertical flange 12 of each side member 11 adjacent a corner of the base 10 is pivoted a leg member 14. The leg members 14 are slightly shorter in length than the respective side members and the pivot points a of the legs are set inwardly from the corners of the base so that the legs will lie within the confines of the base in folded position of the chair.

The upper end of each leg is connected to a seat or seat mounting 15 adjacent a corner thereof by means of a swivel such as shown in Figure 4 in detail. This swivel consists of an inverted U-shaped member or clevis 16 between the legs of which is pivoted, by means of a pin 17, the upper end of a leg 14. The bight of the clevis 16 is provided with an aperture 18 through which extends a screw 19 having a head 20 whose shoulder b bears against the underside of the bight of the clevis.

A second annular shoulder c on the screw bears against a washer 21 which rests flush against the undersurface of the seat mounting 15. The seat mounting is apertured to receive an internally threaded member 22 from the top thereof, the member having a head 23 seated in a countersunk portion 24 about the aperture in the seat mounting 15. Thescrew 19 enters the threaded bore of member 22 and has a slot 25 in its head to accommodate a screw-driver. It is evident from the foregoing that the leg 14 may revolve on the axis provided by the screw 19 and may oscillate on the axis provided by the pin 17.

Each of the legs 14 has an annular brace consisting of a pair of links 26 and 27 pivoted together at d. The link 26 is pivoted at e to a leg 14 adjacent the midsection of the latter and the companion link 27 is pivoted at f to the approximate midsection of a side memberll of the base. Each link 27 of each angular brace has a right angular lug 28 formed on the end nearest the pivoted point d adopted to engage in a recess g in the companion link 26, to prevent displacement of the links past dead center position, thus to support the legs 14 in vertical position. When the four brace members are collapsed, they fold into the confines of the vertical flanges 12 of the base 10 alongside the legs 14, there being a space between the legs and flange 12 provided by a spacing sleeve 29 surrounding the pivot pin a between the end of each leg and the adjacent flange 12. As the legs move downwardly toward collapsed position, the seat mounting 15 revolves in an arc of 90, coming to rest on top of the base 1% into which the legs 14 and their related parts are folded.

Superposed on the seat mounting 15 is a seat 30 of the same dimensions as the seat mounting. The seat 30 is made rotatable on the seat mounting 15 by means of a large disc 31, aflixed by means of screws 32 to the seat mounting 15. Frictionally engaging the disc 31 is a like disc 33 which is secured by screws 34 to the underside of the seat 30. A pin 35 extends through both discs 31 and 33 and through both the seat mounting 15 and seat 30 and about which the seat 30 revolves, the friction between the discs 31 and 33 preventing too free movement of the seat 330.

A suitable padding (not shown) may be applied to the seat 30 as well as to a back rest 36, for comfort, the back rest being hinged at 37 along one edge of the seat 30 and foldable onto the seat as shown in Figure 3, thus making of the chair, in collapsed position, a compact package easily stored for transportation or, when desired, may be left clamped to the seat of a boat, when so used; to afford in itself a seat in folded position. Suitable means, such as chains 38, may be employed to hold the back rest 36 in operative position.

What is claimed is:

l. A folding chair comprising a substantially square base, the side members of which are substantially L- shaped in cross-section to define confronting flanges interiorly of said base, a seat of substantially square shape, a plurality of supporting legs for said seat, each having its lower end pivoted to a side member of' said base adjacent the corner thereof, to rotate about an axis transverse to said side member means for swivelly pivoting the upper end of each of said legs to a corner of said seat for rotative and oscillative displacement in relation to said seat whereby each of said legs will move to a position within the confines of said base and in parallelism with the side of said base to which it is: pivoted, and collapsible means for supporting said legs in upright position.

2. A folding chair comprising a substantially square base, a leg pivoted at one end to each side of said base at a point spaced from a corner thereof for rotation about an axis perpendicular to the side of said base to which Patented Nov. 22, 1955 it is pivoted, a seat mounting of substantially square shape, a'swi velly pivoted connection between the other end of each of said legs to a corner of said seat to enable said legs to be collapsed to a position Within the confines of said'base and in parallelism with the sides thereof, and folda'ble means for supporting said legs in upright position.

.3. Ina folding chair, a substantially square base composed of four side members of equal length, a leg pivoted to a side member at apoint spaced from each corner ofsaid base for rotation about an axis transverse to the side member to which it is pivoted, a seat of substantially square cross-section, swivel means pivotally connecting the upper end of each of said legs to a corner of said seat to-enable said seat to. rotate 90 when said legs are moved into a position parallel with the side members of said frame.

4. Thestructure as set forth in claim 3, and collapsible means for supporting said legs in a position perpendicular to said base.

5. In a folding chair, a substantially square base composed of side members joined together at their ends, a leg pivoted to each of said side members at a point spaced from one end thereof for rotation about an axis at right angles to the side member to which it is pivoted and adapted, in collapsed position, to lie in parallelism with and inwardly of said side member, a substantially square seat member, swivelly pivoted means connecting the upper end of each of said legs to a corner of said seat member whereby said seat member will rotate 90 as said legs are moved from upright to collapsed positions, and means for supporting said legs in upright position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 897,737 Goodrich Sept. 1, 1908 1,434,777 Handler Nov. 7, 1922 1,508,576 Remde Sept. 16, 1924 1,891,734 Slee Dec. 20, 1932 1,992,434 Kosanek Feb. 26, 1935 2,388,192 Stechbart Oct. 30, 1945 2,502,847 Honigman Apr. 4, 1950 FOREIGN PATENTS 353,228 Germany May 13,1922 

